Mujitsu and Tairaku's Shakuhachi BBQ

You'd be much better off working with PVC than struggling with that stuff.

(I'm sure you don't want to hear this, but it's still true; you'll learn a lot more, for a lot less effort, and have a much better result)

Here are some decent specs, from Mujitsu's website:

       http://www.mujitsu.com/images/pvcspces.JPG

More on PVC shakuhachi:

    From the Forum:

       http://shakuhachiforum.com/viewtopic.php?id=3500

     From Kinya Sogawa's website:

       http://www.fides.dti.ne.jp/~sogawa/englishpagepvc.html

    From Navaching (more technical details here):

       http://www.navaching.com/shaku/pvc.html

    And LOTS more links here:

       http://www.google.com/search?q=pvc+shak … =firefox-a

Last edited by edosan (2010-07-31 22:13:28)

Lorka wrote:

Learn first, make later.  This seems to be my recurring fixation

Agreed. You're not going to accomplish much by making, if you don't already know at least the rudiments of playing, and
even those won't get you very far, especially with some bamboo that's way out of the envelop for making a decent flute.

musicninja17 wrote:

Ugh....unfortunately the only piece of PVC that I have is also nearly the same diameter of the bamboo I have.

Yes I know this is not going to be anything near good.
But my question remains...what would it take?

Your question, in the detail and specifics required, is not really answerable. PVC is cheap, and available almost anywhere.

You're not going to make a proper blowing end with bamboo of that dimension (and even if you cobbled one together, it'd be quite
difficult to get good stable sound out of it). Piece of cake with PVC. At least look at the specs for PVC.

Why beat a dead piece of bamboo, just because it's bamboo?

musicninja17 wrote:

Ugh....unfortunately the only piece of PVC that I have is also nearly the same diameter of the bamboo I have.

Yes I know this is not going to be anything near good.
But my question remains...what would it take?

you could maybe make an ok mini pan-pipe with it.... or dog-whistle.....

actually, i made a 35 cm long 1.2 (RO is an A at 445)with a 17 mm wide bore that turned out pretty well, can get into dai-kan in tune (ish), if not pleasantly...
but, yes, 1.8 is just not going to fly.

Last edited by Glenn Swann (2010-07-31 23:03:54)

try this...

http://www.navaching.com/shaku/scaling.html

I would start at no more than a 1.1, but I can't say exactly because there are a number of factors.  i usually "make decisions as i go" depending on what the bamboo tells me it wants.  sometimes i think that a certain size would be good, but it sounds stuffy, or small.

just try something around that size and you'll be much more likely to get "something" that might work out ok.  don't forget to drill the holes small at first and enlarge them to tune them.  yes it's slower, but you've got a lot more flexibility in finding the right pitches.

good luck.

jacques

Also, be advised that the shorter a shakuhachi gets (assuming the aspect ratio stays fairly constant):

     The more difficult it is to tune.

     The more difficult it is to play.

edosan wrote:

Also, be advised that the shorter a shakuhachi gets (assuming the aspect ratio stays fairly constant):

     The more difficult it is to tune.

     The more difficult it is to play.

very much the case. and I would add

     The more annoying it is if it's out of tune or improperly played.